hermit crabs and brittle sea star

[talloulou]

I have a bunch of small hermit crabs in my tank. The other day at Petco they had some brittle sea stars and I was tempted to get one. The girl working the fish told me the hermit crabs will eat the brittle star, is that true??? I didn't buy one because of what she said but I don't remember hearing that before. Also I know live aquaria sells packages that come with brittle stars and hermit crabs in one package so it didn't make sense to me.

[Hara]

The LARGE hermits, might bother them, but not the small reef safe hermits.

[talloulou]

Thanks Hara, that's what I thought. I have lots of live rock for the brittle star to hide in and so I was thinking it would probably be okay. I'm going to go get one this weekend, hopefully they will still have some. I was doing some reading on the subject and read that some fish might try to eat the brittle star as well but I only have a clown fish and four pajama cardinalfish so I don't suspect them to cause any problems. The only other inhabitants are all the stuff that came on the rock. A worm, a tiny starfish, a slug, some weird flea like creatures that zip around the rocks, oh and some snails I bought.

I was also considering buying another clown fish as a mate for the one I have. Does that sound like a good idea?

I also have some mushrooms that I bought from live aquaria awhile back that are thriving. I want to get some more of them and possibly something else that will do well without alot of lighting. Any suggestions?

I haven't had much luck with feather dusters and I'm not sure why.

[austinsdad]

IMO, stay away from the green brittles. Get REAL big and can be predatory so I hear. I've got a greyish/pinkish looking one. Had him for 3 years. Mild mannered. He'll stay in one place for days and all I see is his legs. He may come out at nite. He eats pellets.

What kinda hermits you got?

Those weird flea like creatures - copepods or amphipods. That's a good thing.

Looked at Ricordia? Similar to shrooms. Look at frogspawn coral.

[tony66murdock]

I love my Polka Dot Hermit Crab and he is very reef safe, but he does eat the feet of my brittle star every chance he gets, even when well fed.